Oh, Freedom!
Quilt Exhibitions
The Oh, Freedom! Quilting Project holds quilt exhibitions in different locations around the Hudson Valley. Our most recent exhibition was on March 15 at the Family Partnership Center, where quilts from collaborations with Oakwood Schools, Celebrating the African Spirit, the Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Branch Library, and Putnam History Museum were displayed. Quilters from Quilt-n-Queens also displayed their quilts at this commemoration of New York’s history of slavery and abolition. This work is supported in part by the Vassar College Good Neighbors Partnership and the Dutchess and Putnam Community Grants Funds of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley.
Family Partnership Center, March 31-21, 2025
Oakwood School, October 19 & 26, 2024
Oh, Freedom! Quilts
Oakwood Schools Quilts
Quilt-n-Queens
Oh, Freedom! Quilts
MHAHP Summer 2023 Quilt
Putnam History Museum Quilt
Vassar History Department Quilt
Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Branch Library Quilt
Celebrating the African Spirit Quilt
Oakwood Schools Quilts
Oakwood 6th Grade Quilt (Class of 2030)
Oakwood 7th Grade Quilt (Class of 2029)
Oakwood 8th Grade Quilt (Class of 2028)
This work is supported in part by the Vassar College Good Neighbors Partnership and the Dutchess and Putnam Community Grants Funds of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley.
Other Quilts Featured at Oh, Freedom! Exhibition – Quilt-n-Queens
QUILT-N-QUEENS
The Quilt-N-Queens Guild has been meeting for over 30 years. This community of
predominantly African American quilters is dedicated to the craft and legacy of quilting and fiber arts. The guild meets monthly from September to June in Jamaica, Queens, New York. The guild members are also involved in community and charitable events. They founded the “Quilts 4 Cops” annual quilting bee every October, and it’s in its eighth year. This all-day quilting bee is located at 1 Police Plaza, and it is for the families of police officers who have fallen due to illness from 9/11 and other on-the-job fatalities. The 2024 quilt challenge for its members was Civil Rights. This fiber arts display commemorates and reminds us of the vital importance of the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans of all generations.
Quilt-N-Queens Exhibitors
- Phredonia Bush
- Diane Pryor-Holland
- Sylvia “Cookie” Hodge
- Jacqueline Colson
- Loretta Bess Harris
- Thadine Wormly
“Why do you still go to the back of the bus?” Civil Rights Quilt by Thadine Wormly from Quilt-N-Queens
El Hajj Malik “Malcolm X” by Loretta Bess Harris.
“THE 5TH LITTLE GIRL” by Phredonia Bush. This quilt memorializes the tragic historic bombing of the 16 Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama and remembers the 4 girls killed along with a fifth girl who survived the trauma.
Jacqueline Colson: “Voting Rights”
This quilt shines a light on the importance of voting rights for the African American community
and particularly, for women. The quilt provides a judicial timeline of African Americans’ long and painful journey to finally achieve their constitutional right to vote.
Diane Pryor-Holland: “The Green Book — Safe Travels”
This quilt commemorates the importance of the Green Book. In the 1930s, during the era of Jim Crow laws, a Black postal carrier from Harlem named Victor Green published a book that was part travel guide and part survival guide. The Green Book became “the Bible of Black travel”.
Sylvia “Cookie” Hodge: “Our Civil Rights: We Won’t Go Back”
This quilt commemorates leaders of the Civil rights Movement and the era of the quilter’s mother. The quilt includes the violence of police brutality during non-violent protests. It is a reminder of who and what events led to our status today.
This project is made possible with funds from the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.
